Over the past five decades, with great advances in the field of medicine and with a growing focus on global health delivery, both at Harvard and around the world, we have seen an increasingly complex burden of disease. Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, calls this the triple burden: a mix of illnesses typically associated with poverty, including many infectious diseases and high maternal mortality; rising levels of noncommunicable diseases like cancer and heart disease, plus injuries from accidents and violence; as well as what he calls diseases of globalization, like the pandemics of HIV/AIDS and H1N1.

To meet these complex evolving challenges, we need to draw on the deep expertise of the biological and social sciences. This requires broad collaborations and strong partnerships.

On April 25, 2013, I was honored to participate in a panel discussion at HSPH celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Department of Global Health and Population.

I was delighted to have the chance to celebrate their achievements, and to highlight the remarkable collaborations between HMS and HSPH that have contributed so much to our shared institutional missions of alleviating human suffering caused by disease.

Comments

1.

John D Leith

13 May 2013

04:43 pm

Global health might be improved if we could control our population without using the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Harvard could help by taking a more active role in supporting population control in the US and globally.